Gotta comment that the MTGO metagame these days is very hostile.. You can't play a competitive league without seeing your share of UW Control, Affinity, Burn, Valakut, dorky tribal decks (elves/merfolk/faeries), smallpox variants, and dorky value-oriented coco/taxes variants. Seems like the online meta truly consists of shadow decks and decks that prey on shadow decks. decks like combo (ad nauseam, goryo's vengeance, storm etc) were never a big part of the metagame but they've more or less disappeared online, especially the latter two because of incidental graveyard hate. That being said, I think being proven out that GDS is nowhere near format breaking (and claim/fame isn't nearly the gamebreaking game that LSV proclaimed) and we should be safe from bans (not that we should've ever been concerned).
Thanks for posting these. Some additional observations:
- 2 Liliana, the Last Hope in Rob Long's maindeck, but no Kolaghan's Command
- 2 Temur Battle Rages in Dan Jessup's sideboard (none in the other decks)
- 1 Claim // Fame in Rob Long's sideboard (none in the other decks)
- All but Kendall Burdette's sideboard down to 2 Ceremonious Rejections
- Not a single Surgical Extraction in any of the sideboards
- Not a single Surgical Extraction in any of the sideboards (perhaps Team Unified Construction Rules related)
Event is Team Constructed, not Team Unified though. Legacy member of a team using Surgical Extractions wouldn't exclude the Modern teammate from doing the same.
Event is Team Constructed, not Team Unified though. Legacy member of a team using Surgical Extractions wouldn't exclude the Modern teammate from doing the same.
Thank you for the correction. I mixed it up and will edit it out to prevent confusion.
Surgical isn't really that good in this deck, especially with everybody cutting LD from the 75. I've even cut it from my YP lists, and those are the lists that would tend to abuse it the most. The card is just too slow to deal with GY strategies, and isn't strong enough to capitalize on big mana decks when we go under and don't have LD to lock them. The card is also not very good in grindy matchups since it is inherent card disadvantage. If worried about combo, run more counters in addition to the denials and brutalities. If worried about GY strats, run more Spellbombs/Leylines/Cages. Or if you want a bit of a mix between aggro, combo and GY decks you could do what Jessup advocated and play a catchall instead of slightly more specific cards in TBR. Sometimes stealing games is just the best strategy if backed into a corner.
Uh, that one slipped through. I will edit it out. Thank you!
Regarding Surgical Extraction: I was firmly on the Nihil Spellbomb side when Surgical Extraction was still very popular. But when I switched from Anger of the Gods to Flaying Tendrils because of Affinity, I wanted an efficient way of getting rid of Prized Amalgam. Surgical Extraction has been fine for the most part, taking out thoughtseized Primeval Titans, exiling targets for Goryo's Vengeance and making sure that Empty the Warrens is gone for good. I missed Nihil Spellbomb in some of the midrange-y matchups, though not desperately so.
As it is, I'm still torn between the two cards. But seeing that the pro-level players are all on Nihil Spellbomb (or Leyline of the Void in one case), I might just be wrong in my newfound appreciation for Surgical Extraction.
I apologize if anything is wrong, I don't remember things 100% since it was a long event a couple days ago.
Round 1 vs GW Knightfall
The games were extremely grindy, often going to the last couple of turns. Sometimes I ended up having to leave Courser in play for a while which did a number on me. Combined with Eternal Witness, they can sometimes grind you out. In game 3, I had math'd to go down to one and have blockers available, but CoCo into Renegade Rallier with a revolt trigger was enough.
Record: 0-1
Round 2 vs Jund
I don't remember much about this particular game unfortunately. He was playing a full foil + expedition list, that was cool. It went to three games and Liliana ended up being the MVP.
Record: 1-1
R3 vs Mirror
Finally a mirror matchup, a deck I feel comfortable against thanks to Lilis. This was a quick two games, Liliana in the MB is so disgustingly good. I had her at 7 counters in one game before he conceded.
Record: 2-1
R4 vs Jund
The notable thing I remember is that he was playing a copy of Hazoret, which seems pretty solid to me. Other than that, typical fare for Jund matchups. Really grindy, went to three games. I didn't get Liliana up so high in this game as he had a Dreadbore, but I still definitely liked her.
Record: 3-1
R5 vs GW Humans
Game 1 I kept a hand with little removal and had a hard time properly answering his threats. Path is pretty good against us and removed some key blockers and that was that. In game 2, he had a really explosive start that was Avacayn's Pilgrim into Champion of the Parish + Thalia's Lieutenant, it crushed me really fast.
Record: 3-2
R6 vs Mirror
Another mirror that I crushed. I ended up having enough time to wait in a 25 minute food line and eat it after. Can't say I remember much other than that.
Record: 4-2
R7 vs RG Scapeshift
So we both keep 7 cards in game 1 and when I Thoughtseize him, he reveals two Valakuts and 5 green cards. He makes a comment he refuses to ever mulligan. Well, I'm not going to argue, sine I won the game without him casting a single card. In game 2 he resolved a Chameleon Colossus, and then I had a Gurmag Angler, Tasigur, and Death's Shadow in play. He math'd it to attack with Colossus, put me to 8, and have lethal on the following turn. Apparently his math was bad, because the attack on my turn, combined with a Bolt and a Street Wraith ended up being 19, more than enough for lethal.
Record: 5-2
R8 vs Elves
Game 1 I answered his stuff pretty efficiently and had threats of my own, and ended up taking it. In game 2, the hand was keepable but not great, and he rolled me like Elves can do. In game 3, he mulled to 5 and I kept a hand with Anger of the Gods. I Pushed his turn 2 Shaman of the Pact, and when he played two Dwynen's a turn or two later, I Angered and that ended the game.
Record: 6-2
R8 vs Mirror
We played two really fast games as my opponent wasn't really comfortable with the deck (so he said afterwards). He ended up just getting rolled by some big creatures in both games. I also think him leaving in cards like Bolt and Push wasn't the greatest. I remember at the end of the last game, I was holding Snap + Stubborn Denial with a Liliana and Death's Shadow in play while my opponent had one card in hand, it was a pretty easy win from there.
Record: 7-2
Overall I did quite well, I ended up top 16. Turns out 6 of the top 8 drew in, one was guaranteed from the pair down match, and my breakers weren't good. Sucks I wasn't in the top 8 but I'm still happy with a solid enough performance.
Liliana was a really good card for me, it won me a lot of Jund and mirror matches. I think Bolt was still fine in the deck. Dreadbore is good in the board to specifically answer Lilianas (Veil and Last Hope). Staticaster wasn't good in this particular event, but based on other results from the weekend, is still worth the slot. I'd perhaps even play an Illness in the Ranks on top of it for Lingering Souls (which is really good against us). I like the wrath and graveyard removal, but you could probably shave one, which also goes for the Ceremonious Rejections as well. They were bad here and I anticipated the wrong decks evidently. Flaying Tendrils vs EE vs Anger is still something I'm not sold on, but I picked Angers for the Dredge matchup and EEs for general purpose (killing Liliana was very good for me).
My board for the mirror was to cut 2 Inquisition, the Bolt, and the Pushes, bringing in a Liliana, Dreadbore, two Surgical, and two Spellbombs. I hate the idea of having dead cards late, so I shave on some disruption and the non-guaranteed removal, bringing in grave hate and removal. I think four grave hate might be a bit overkill here, but I'm happy removing the bad removal. A lot of my opponents kept in cards I cut and ended up losing with them in hand. Every one of the post-board matches I played vs the mirror or Jund were really grindy, and so you want to cut on cards that are bad late game, I think.
I love 18 lands and I wouldn't go back to 19. With 19 I was flooding out a lot, and with 17 I had too many mulligans due to no lands.
OK, darksteel88, you have finally convinced me to give Liliana of the Veil another try. I had to sell several of my pet cards on MTGO in order to obtain two copies. You will be held personally responsible if Liliana does not perform well! (just kidding )
Ended up 2-2-1 at my pptq this weekend, losing 2 straight win and ins. I play the same 75 as last time. Very quickly, the rounds:
- Win 2-0 vs UW Control. Lily ultimate wins g1, P&K wins g2 despite a turn 2 Rest in Peace.
- Draw 1-1-1 vs Sultai Tarmofae. P&K kept me in it vs Bitterblossom both post sb games. (He eventually wins the event.)
- Win 2-0 vs Storm. Easy matchup.
- Lose 0-2 vs Storm. Easy matchup, but I had very poor draws.
- Lose 0-2 vs Goblins. Almost unwinnable.
Still probably wouldn't change anything, at least for pptqs.
Yeah, them's the breaks. The T8 was decidely less hostile this time around: Burn, Goblins, GR Valakut, Bogles, Sultai Tarmofae, Affinity, Soul Sisters (w/ Auriok Champion AND Paladin-en Vec), and Storm.
what do you guys think about testing a version without street wraiths? so like a stock list with 1 more land, 2 dismember and 1 more k command in the main board or something.
Street Wraith is important in matchups where you need to play the aggressor. It helps you control your life loss to power out an early Death's Shadow and it fills the grave to help land an early Tasigur, the Golden Fang. It also works wonders with Serum Visions. Removing them for more removal, a land and K-Command just slows the deck down and makes you more vulnerable to decks you need to slip under. Dismember, while a good way to remove a creature and control your life loss, does nothing with no targets, which is why I prefer running Terminate to kill stuff and Wraith/Fetches/Shocklands to control life total.
What is your reasoning for getting rid of Wraiths?
I have won more matches against Goblins than I have lost, probably around 60%, maybe even more. If this matchup feels nearly unwinnable, it might have to do with your build. Or it's just bad luck.
The old stock list with 2 Lightning Bolts, 3 Fatal Pushes, 2 Terminates and 2 Stubborn Denials is really good in this matchup. Inquisition of Kozilek and Snapcaster Mage have been the best cards in the MD for me, aided by two copies of LtLH, one copy of Kozilek's Return and one copy of Izzet Staticaster (which is totally devastating) from the side.
Once the initial rush is stopped, LtLH protected by a fatty can completely overtake the game. It's not even close at this point, unless they draw several burn spells in a row, of which they only play 8 ... and half of them require an alive goblin, which is often a rare thing at this point. Almost their entire deck, with the exception of Lightning Bolt and Mogg Fanatic, operates at sorcery speed. Their "card advantage engine" is usually Mogg War Marshal. I have seen them run Tormod's Crypt over Relic of Progenitus. Their late game plan is almost in-existent.
Burn has been a much harder matchup than Goblins for me so far. If my opponent plays a Mountain on turn 1, I usually breath out in relief when I see a Foundry Street Denizen. They always seem to have it.
First time posting here, but I've been following this for a long time.
I decided to play this deck this PPTQ Season (at least for now). Yesterday I played my second PPTQ (114 players, huge event here in Brazil) with this list:
Before the tournament I thought about playing a third Brutality in the sb instead of the kolaghan's command. I regret that I didn't since I played against burn 3 times and got my only losses there. Another thing is that I try to play too safe against burn. The match that I won I was very agressive, playing DS turn 2, fetching, shocking and TS him. When I tried to preserve my life total, fetching for basics and tapped lands I ended up giving them too much time and then losing anyway. Well, the deck is still awesome!
This topic was a great help for me to learn about the deck. Thank you guys.
I'll probably try it a couple more times. But I want to play affinity, since it looks well positioned right now and I have been playing it for the longest time (including a top 16 last modern RPTQ).
I have won more matches against Goblins than I have lost, probably around 60%, maybe even more. If this matchup feels nearly unwinnable, it might have to do with your build. Or it's just bad luck.
The old stock list with 2 Lightning Bolts, 3 Fatal Pushes, 2 Terminates and 2 Stubborn Denials is really good in this matchup. Inquisition of Kozilek and Snapcaster Mage have been the best cards in the MD for me, aided by two copies of LtLH, one copy of Kozilek's Return and one copy of Izzet Staticaster (which is totally devastating) from the side.
Once the initial rush is stopped, LtLH protected by a fatty can completely overtake the game. It's not even close at this point, unless they draw several burn spells in a row, of which they only play 8 ... and half of them require an alive goblin, which is often a rare thing at this point. Almost their entire deck, with the exception of Lightning Bolt and Mogg Fanatic, operates at sorcery speed. Their "card advantage engine" is usually Mogg War Marshal. I have seen them run Tormod's Crypt over Relic of Progenitus. Their late game plan is almost in-existent.
Burn has been a much harder matchup than Goblins for me so far. If my opponent plays a Mountain on turn 1, I usually breath out in relief when I see a Foundry Street Denizen. They always seem to have it.
I've only played it twice, but it felt really bad both times. Spot removal is just atrocious against Mogg War Marshall and Krenko's Command, and Goblin Bushwhacker is a beating. I boarded in 2 K Return, 1 Staticaster, and 2 P&K (among other things), but you gotta draw them, and you gotta not die before you can cast them. It's like playing against Elves, except they can burn your out without having a pile of dudes in play. I don't see how it could be a good matchup.
I've only played it twice, but it felt really bad both times. Spot removal is just atrocious against Mogg War Marshall and Krenko's Command, and Goblin Bushwhacker is a beating. I boarded in 2 K Return, 1 Staticaster, and 2 P&K (among other things), but you gotta draw them, and you gotta not die before you can cast them. It's like playing against Elves, except they can burn your out without having a pile of dudes in play. I don't see how it could be a good matchup.
I've played it about 15 times. Elves is slower, but has much better creatures and lots of options to turn the game around. That's why it is tier 2 and Goblins is somewhere around tier 4. The main reason Goblins is played is because it's cheap to build.
I get what Ashiok is for, but I don't think he's good at all for us. He can't protect himself until turn 5, doesn't affect the board until turn 5, and his minus is very unreliable. For all intents and purposes he's a 3 mana do nothing the majority of the times. I'd much rather have either of the Lilianas
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The street wraiths and shadow purchase is safe, the deck is already going down in shares, the meta is regulating this deck.
- 2 Liliana, the Last Hope in Rob Long's maindeck, but no Kolaghan's Command
- 2 Temur Battle Rages in Dan Jessup's sideboard (none in the other decks)
- 1 Claim // Fame in Rob Long's sideboard (none in the other decks)
- All but Kendall Burdette's sideboard down to 2 Ceremonious Rejections
- Not a single Surgical Extraction in any of the sideboards
Event is Team Constructed, not Team Unified though. Legacy member of a team using Surgical Extractions wouldn't exclude the Modern teammate from doing the same.
Rob Long has 2 copies of KReturn in his side.
URB Some variant of Death's Shadow
URB Grixis Control (Chapin Version)
JFM Storm / Treasure Cruise Delver / Splinter Twin / InfectCommander/EDH
This pile of cards when I feel like it
Death's Shadow discord link
- Xaricore
Regarding Surgical Extraction: I was firmly on the Nihil Spellbomb side when Surgical Extraction was still very popular. But when I switched from Anger of the Gods to Flaying Tendrils because of Affinity, I wanted an efficient way of getting rid of Prized Amalgam. Surgical Extraction has been fine for the most part, taking out thoughtseized Primeval Titans, exiling targets for Goryo's Vengeance and making sure that Empty the Warrens is gone for good. I missed Nihil Spellbomb in some of the midrange-y matchups, though not desperately so.
As it is, I'm still torn between the two cards. But seeing that the pro-level players are all on Nihil Spellbomb (or Leyline of the Void in one case), I might just be wrong in my newfound appreciation for Surgical Extraction.
Here's the list I played:
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Steam Vents
2 Watery Grave
2 Blood Crypt
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Polluted Delta
4 Death's Shadow
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Street Wraith
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Gurmag Angler
4 Serum Visions
4 Thought Scour
4 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Lightning Bolt
3 Fatal Push
2 Terminate
2 Kolaghan's Command
2 Stubborn Denial
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Dreadbore
I apologize if anything is wrong, I don't remember things 100% since it was a long event a couple days ago.
Round 1 vs GW Knightfall
The games were extremely grindy, often going to the last couple of turns. Sometimes I ended up having to leave Courser in play for a while which did a number on me. Combined with Eternal Witness, they can sometimes grind you out. In game 3, I had math'd to go down to one and have blockers available, but CoCo into Renegade Rallier with a revolt trigger was enough.
Record: 0-1
Round 2 vs Jund
I don't remember much about this particular game unfortunately. He was playing a full foil + expedition list, that was cool. It went to three games and Liliana ended up being the MVP.
Record: 1-1
R3 vs Mirror
Finally a mirror matchup, a deck I feel comfortable against thanks to Lilis. This was a quick two games, Liliana in the MB is so disgustingly good. I had her at 7 counters in one game before he conceded.
Record: 2-1
R4 vs Jund
The notable thing I remember is that he was playing a copy of Hazoret, which seems pretty solid to me. Other than that, typical fare for Jund matchups. Really grindy, went to three games. I didn't get Liliana up so high in this game as he had a Dreadbore, but I still definitely liked her.
Record: 3-1
R5 vs GW Humans
Game 1 I kept a hand with little removal and had a hard time properly answering his threats. Path is pretty good against us and removed some key blockers and that was that. In game 2, he had a really explosive start that was Avacayn's Pilgrim into Champion of the Parish + Thalia's Lieutenant, it crushed me really fast.
Record: 3-2
R6 vs Mirror
Another mirror that I crushed. I ended up having enough time to wait in a 25 minute food line and eat it after. Can't say I remember much other than that.
Record: 4-2
R7 vs RG Scapeshift
So we both keep 7 cards in game 1 and when I Thoughtseize him, he reveals two Valakuts and 5 green cards. He makes a comment he refuses to ever mulligan. Well, I'm not going to argue, sine I won the game without him casting a single card. In game 2 he resolved a Chameleon Colossus, and then I had a Gurmag Angler, Tasigur, and Death's Shadow in play. He math'd it to attack with Colossus, put me to 8, and have lethal on the following turn. Apparently his math was bad, because the attack on my turn, combined with a Bolt and a Street Wraith ended up being 19, more than enough for lethal.
Record: 5-2
R8 vs Elves
Game 1 I answered his stuff pretty efficiently and had threats of my own, and ended up taking it. In game 2, the hand was keepable but not great, and he rolled me like Elves can do. In game 3, he mulled to 5 and I kept a hand with Anger of the Gods. I Pushed his turn 2 Shaman of the Pact, and when he played two Dwynen's a turn or two later, I Angered and that ended the game.
Record: 6-2
R8 vs Mirror
We played two really fast games as my opponent wasn't really comfortable with the deck (so he said afterwards). He ended up just getting rolled by some big creatures in both games. I also think him leaving in cards like Bolt and Push wasn't the greatest. I remember at the end of the last game, I was holding Snap + Stubborn Denial with a Liliana and Death's Shadow in play while my opponent had one card in hand, it was a pretty easy win from there.
Record: 7-2
Overall I did quite well, I ended up top 16. Turns out 6 of the top 8 drew in, one was guaranteed from the pair down match, and my breakers weren't good. Sucks I wasn't in the top 8 but I'm still happy with a solid enough performance.
Liliana was a really good card for me, it won me a lot of Jund and mirror matches. I think Bolt was still fine in the deck. Dreadbore is good in the board to specifically answer Lilianas (Veil and Last Hope). Staticaster wasn't good in this particular event, but based on other results from the weekend, is still worth the slot. I'd perhaps even play an Illness in the Ranks on top of it for Lingering Souls (which is really good against us). I like the wrath and graveyard removal, but you could probably shave one, which also goes for the Ceremonious Rejections as well. They were bad here and I anticipated the wrong decks evidently. Flaying Tendrils vs EE vs Anger is still something I'm not sold on, but I picked Angers for the Dredge matchup and EEs for general purpose (killing Liliana was very good for me).
My board for the mirror was to cut 2 Inquisition, the Bolt, and the Pushes, bringing in a Liliana, Dreadbore, two Surgical, and two Spellbombs. I hate the idea of having dead cards late, so I shave on some disruption and the non-guaranteed removal, bringing in grave hate and removal. I think four grave hate might be a bit overkill here, but I'm happy removing the bad removal. A lot of my opponents kept in cards I cut and ended up losing with them in hand. Every one of the post-board matches I played vs the mirror or Jund were really grindy, and so you want to cut on cards that are bad late game, I think.
I love 18 lands and I wouldn't go back to 19. With 19 I was flooding out a lot, and with 17 I had too many mulligans due to no lands.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
- Win 2-0 vs UW Control. Lily ultimate wins g1, P&K wins g2 despite a turn 2 Rest in Peace.
- Draw 1-1-1 vs Sultai Tarmofae. P&K kept me in it vs Bitterblossom both post sb games. (He eventually wins the event.)
- Win 2-0 vs Storm. Easy matchup.
- Lose 0-2 vs Storm. Easy matchup, but I had very poor draws.
- Lose 0-2 vs Goblins. Almost unwinnable.
Still probably wouldn't change anything, at least for pptqs.
Street Wraith is important in matchups where you need to play the aggressor. It helps you control your life loss to power out an early Death's Shadow and it fills the grave to help land an early Tasigur, the Golden Fang. It also works wonders with Serum Visions. Removing them for more removal, a land and K-Command just slows the deck down and makes you more vulnerable to decks you need to slip under. Dismember, while a good way to remove a creature and control your life loss, does nothing with no targets, which is why I prefer running Terminate to kill stuff and Wraith/Fetches/Shocklands to control life total.
What is your reasoning for getting rid of Wraiths?
The old stock list with 2 Lightning Bolts, 3 Fatal Pushes, 2 Terminates and 2 Stubborn Denials is really good in this matchup. Inquisition of Kozilek and Snapcaster Mage have been the best cards in the MD for me, aided by two copies of LtLH, one copy of Kozilek's Return and one copy of Izzet Staticaster (which is totally devastating) from the side.
Once the initial rush is stopped, LtLH protected by a fatty can completely overtake the game. It's not even close at this point, unless they draw several burn spells in a row, of which they only play 8 ... and half of them require an alive goblin, which is often a rare thing at this point. Almost their entire deck, with the exception of Lightning Bolt and Mogg Fanatic, operates at sorcery speed. Their "card advantage engine" is usually Mogg War Marshal. I have seen them run Tormod's Crypt over Relic of Progenitus. Their late game plan is almost in-existent.
Burn has been a much harder matchup than Goblins for me so far. If my opponent plays a Mountain on turn 1, I usually breath out in relief when I see a Foundry Street Denizen. They always seem to have it.
I decided to play this deck this PPTQ Season (at least for now). Yesterday I played my second PPTQ (114 players, huge event here in Brazil) with this list:
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Steam Vents
2 Watery Grave
2 Blood Crypt
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta
Creatures
4 Death's Shadow
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Street Wraith
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Gurmag Angler
4 Serum Visions
4 Thought Scour
4 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Fatal Push
2 Terminate
2 Kolaghan's Command
2 Stubborn Denial
2 Sleight of Hand
2 Stubborn Denial
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Flaying Tendrills
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Dismember
1 Kolaghan's Command
2 Collective Brutality
I finished 5-2. Good enough for 14th place.
Played against:
Round 1: RG Scapeshift (WIN)
Round 2: Burn (WIN)
Round 3: Burn (LOSE)
Round 4: Merfolk (WIN)
Round 5: Grixis Shadow (WIN)
Round 6: Burn (LOSE)
Round 7: Jund (WIN)
Before the tournament I thought about playing a third Brutality in the sb instead of the kolaghan's command. I regret that I didn't since I played against burn 3 times and got my only losses there. Another thing is that I try to play too safe against burn. The match that I won I was very agressive, playing DS turn 2, fetching, shocking and TS him. When I tried to preserve my life total, fetching for basics and tapped lands I ended up giving them too much time and then losing anyway. Well, the deck is still awesome!
This topic was a great help for me to learn about the deck. Thank you guys.
I'll probably try it a couple more times. But I want to play affinity, since it looks well positioned right now and I have been playing it for the longest time (including a top 16 last modern RPTQ).
I've only played it twice, but it felt really bad both times. Spot removal is just atrocious against Mogg War Marshall and Krenko's Command, and Goblin Bushwhacker is a beating. I boarded in 2 K Return, 1 Staticaster, and 2 P&K (among other things), but you gotta draw them, and you gotta not die before you can cast them. It's like playing against Elves, except they can burn your out without having a pile of dudes in play. I don't see how it could be a good matchup.
Also, what about painful truths in this deck? It gives card advantage and we can loose life while keeping in control of the numbers.